Incunabula @incunabula Twitter profile | Pikagi

Pikagi

Incunabula

@incunabula

104,395

Followers

404

Following

7,132

Media

18,167

Statuses

Bibliophile. The history of writing and of the book - across ALL cultures - from cuneiform tablet to papyrus scroll to codex to Kindle. Слава Україні! 🌻

France

https://t.co/Sv6SYO3T3H

Joined August 2017

Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.

Pinned Tweet

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

European civilization is built on ham and cheese, which allowed protein to be stored throughout the icy winters. Without this, urban societies in most of central Europe would simply not have been possible. This is also why we have hardback books. Here's why. 1/

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

719

16K

53K

Last Seen Profiles

@DeRailSims

@blake_rybar

@evove31

@bORSRFRfI2fNMbT

@BomberosMad

@Sportando

@talkmainak

@achemicalmess

@SimeonWilcher

@l9iick

@zarazakher

@mjahd_al35044

@kateelizweston

@Fran54444

@GifftWines

@jarvis_vel35315

@LadyLuckFate

@EricHorstman11

@DAllen2_

@ContactoHoy

@CagedDimension

@ggelus_

@BoxLunchGifts

@Rack_FN

@rajan5248

@SlimKirby

@MicaArment9298

@OversizedTony

@Ahmed_Saeed_8

@BinAli87580534

@K1nPJrHxFo86541

@___dannh

@wildrunner_2510

@amnh5027

@lngzi1845526870

@Yuika8447479446

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

The Tripitaka Koreana - carved on 81258 woodblocks in the 13th century - is the most successful large data transfer over time yet achieved by humankind. 52 million characters of information, transmitted over nearly 8 centuries with zero data loss - an unequalled achievement. 1/

Tweet media one

454

14K

54K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

Zoom meeting, circa 1300.

Tweet media one

126

5K

40K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

The arrow of time.

Tweet media one

62

4K

24K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

The Finnish word "kalsarikänni" means “drinking alone, at home, in your underwear”. The Finnish Tourism Agency has released two emojis for the word.

Tweet media one

237

2K

15K

@incunabula

Incunabula

1 year

Roald Dahl - 2001 authorized Puffin edition vs 2022 authorized Puffin edition.

Tweet media one

1K

4K

14K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

Which European language am I reading?

Tweet media one

116

3K

13K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

57 scripts descended from Egyptian Hieroglyphics.

Tweet media one

144

2K

9K

@incunabula

Incunabula

6 years

Reports from Rio are of the total destruction of the museum and the loss of upwards of 20 million items. This is the Brazilian equivalent of the British Museum or the Louvre. There are simply no words for a tragedy like this.

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

Tweet media three

Tweet media four

196

7K

9K

@incunabula

Incunabula

4 years

A heartstoppingly beautiful 15th century Timurid Qur'an copied on Ming Dynasty gold-painted colored paper, is coming up for auction @ChristiesInc in London on 25th July. Estimate $780 000 - $1.2m. Only four other similar Qur'ans written on Chinese paper like this are known. 1/2

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

Tweet media three

85

3K

9K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

Ultimately, the hardback book exists because of cheese. 4/

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

21

593

6K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

There's no fixed way to calculate this, but 52 million carved Chinese characters is around two gigabytes of information. So the Tripitaka Koreana has transmitted two gigabytes of data over nearly 8 centuries with no corruption or loss: nothing else created by man comes close. 8/

Tweet media one

20

666

6K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

The Dabous Giraffes are neolithic petroglyphs found near the Aïr Mountains in north Niger. They are believed to have been created 6000 - 8000 years ago when the region was less arid, and the Sahara was a vast savannah. They are the largest known animal petroglyphs ever found. 1/

Tweet media one

39

1K

6K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

Vellum tends to buckle & ripple, it doesn't lie absolutely flat like paper. So it was bound between heavy wooden boards to keep it flat - this is the origin of the hardback book, a book format - expensive, hard to make, & prone to damage - almost never seen outside Europe. 3/

Tweet media one

15

324

5K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

The Tripitaka Koreana, stored in Haeinsa, a Buddhist temple in Gayasan National Park, South Korea, is the most comprehensive and oldest version of the Buddhist canon, with no known errors in its 52 330 152 characters which are organized in over 1496 titles and 6568 volumes. 2/

Tweet media one

7

405

5K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

This is the "Staircase to Knowledge" at the University of Balamand in Lebanon, leading up to the library building. 1/

Tweet media one

46

853

5K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

So - finally - after this meandering thread of 36 tweets, we see that 🧀 + 🐌 + ✝️ + 🩲 + 👓 = 📖 QED!

104

215

5K

@incunabula

Incunabula

5 years

The desert libraries of Timbuktu are well known, and have been the subject of global concern. Almost all the manuscripts have now been removed to Bamako. But there's another, largely forgotten ancient desert library in neighbouring Mauritania, in the ghost town of Chinguetti. 1/7

Tweet media one

56

2K

5K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 months

This is the Rongorongo script of Easter Island. Rongorongo lacks an accepted decipherment but is generally presumed to encode an earlier stage of Rapa Nui, the contemporary Polynesian language of the island. It is possible that it represents an independent invention of writing.…

Tweet media one

31

790

5K

@incunabula

Incunabula

5 years

By far the greatest blessing - a miracle - is that the Rosace Nord has survived. The South and West windows were very extensively restored in the 18th and 19th century, but the North Rose Window has stood basically unchanged for 800 years, the glass is the 13th century original.

Tweet media one

27

2K

4K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

Each block was made of birch wood from the southern islands of Korea and treated to prevent the decay of the wood. The blocks were soaked in sea water for three years, then cut and then boiled in salt water. 5/

Tweet media one

10

335

5K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

Serendipitous data transmission over centuries occurs of course in libraries, but the Tripitaka Koreana is a single uniformly produced series of texts, and the obsessive levels of care taken in its production and storage leave no doubt it was created with eternity in mind. 3/

Tweet media one

7

267

4K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

Cheese meant female sheep & cows were usually more valuable than male ones which were accordingly slaughtered young as they were not worth feeding through the winter. The skins of these young animals was used to make vellum, giving us the basic material of the European book. 2/

Tweet media one

20

261

4K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

Cheese 🧀 is one of the 5 things the Western book as we know it depends on. The other four are snails 🐌, Jesus ✝️, underwear 🩲 and spectacles 👓. If even one of these things was absent, the book you hold in your hand today would look completely different. I'll explain why. 5/

15

546

4K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

Each wood block measures 24 centimeters in height and 70 centimeters in length. The thickness of the blocks ranges from 2.6 to 4 centimeters and each weighs about three to four kilograms. The woodblocks are in pristine condition despite being created more than 750 years ago. 4/

Tweet media one

8

316

4K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

Palaeolithic bookcase.

Tweet media one

54

551

4K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

Not only does the Tripitaka Koreana preserve gigabytes of data, it allows this data to be freely retrieved as needed: by reading from the blocks directly, or by printing from them. The books below were printed directly from the blocks in 1914, when they were 650 years old. 9/

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

13

261

4K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

Next, the blocks were placed in the shade and exposed to the wind for three years, at which point they were finally ready to be carved. After each block was carved, it was covered in a poisonous lacquer to keep insects away and then framed with metal to prevent warping. 6/

Tweet media one

7

264

4K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

The Tripiṭaka Koreana was designated a National Treasure of South Korea in 1962, and inscribed in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in 2007. It's importance to the Korean people is incalculable - it's an integral part of the national cultural identity. 19/

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

Tweet media three

70

255

4K

@incunabula

Incunabula

4 years

Zoom meeting, circa 1300.

Tweet media one

22

1K

4K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

On October 7, 1992, an elderly man named Tevfik Esenç died in Turkey, and with him - on that day - died the Ubykh language. Once spoken by 50 000 people in the northwest Caucusus, Tevfik Esenç was the last remaining native speaker. 1/

Tweet media one

20

817

4K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

There are -surprisingly - only four definite independent originations of writing, of which only two survive today, and there’s only ONE alphabet - the one developed by the Phoenicians, from which all the others, including our own, derive. 6/

Tweet media one

38

305

4K

@incunabula

Incunabula

4 years

Traditional Inuit folk tales are not for sissies.

Tweet media one

96

1K

4K

@incunabula

Incunabula

4 years

100% - all 16 Dead Sea Scrolls fragments - held by @museumofBible have now been conclusively shown to be modern fakes. This likely means that all the fragments held in the Schøyen Collection are also faked. This is a gigantic multimillion dollar fraud.

Tweet card media

Exclusive: 'Dead Sea Scrolls' at the Museum of the Bible are all forgeries

Months of testing confirm earlier suspicions that the fragments were made in modern times. What happens next?

www.nationalgeographic.com

120

2K

3K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

Fascinating - words can *sound* convincingly like English without being English. Italian singer Adriano Celentano released his hit song "Prisencolinensinainciusol" in 1972, written to mimic the way English sounds to non-English speakers, despite being almost entirely nonsense.

80

750

4K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

The woodblocks would form a pile 2.74 km high if stacked, measure 60 km long when lined up, and weigh 280 tons in total. 7/

Tweet media one

2

176

4K

@incunabula

Incunabula

5 years

If you ever doubt that France is the home of Civilisation: The beams in the roof of Notre Dame were replaced 160 years ago. Afterwards, an avenue of oaks was planted at Versailles, so that they would have wood of the right age when the job next needed doing. The oaks are ready.

Tweet media one

87

1K

3K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

Descendents of the Latin word "coquina" (kitchen) in Europe and elsewhere.

Tweet media one

60

677

4K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

Work on the first Tripiṭaka Koreana began in 1011 during the Goryeo–Khitan War and was completed in 1087. The act of carving the 6000 woodblocks was considered to be a way of bringing about a change in fortune by invoking the Buddha's help. 10/

Tweet media one

4

169

3K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

The production of the Tripiṭaka Koreana was an enormous national commitment of money and manpower, perhaps comparable to the US missions to the Moon in the 1960s. Thousands of scholars and craftsmen were employed in this massive project. 13/

Tweet media one

1

175

3K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

All six Ukrainian Presidents since 1991, including Volodymyr Zelensky, have taken the oath of office on this book: the 16th century Peresopnytsia Gospels [Ukrainian: Пересопницьке Євангеліє], one of the most remarkably illuminated of all surviving East Slavic manuscripts. 1/

Tweet media one

20

802

3K

@incunabula

Incunabula

4 years

"Mongolia has announced plans to restore the use of its traditional alphabet by 2025, replacing the Cyrillic script adopted under the Soviets as it moves away from Russian influence."

Tweet card media

Mongolia abandons Soviet past by restoring alphabet

Mongolia has announced plans to restore the use of its traditional alphabet by 2025, replacing the Cyrillic script adopted under the Soviets as it moves away from Russian influence.It will take...

www.thetimes.co.uk

38

1K

3K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

A particular characteristic of an alphabet (as opposed to a syllabary) is its ability to adapt to represent entirely different sounds and languages. This was likely important to the Phoenicians, whose civilization was spread out over 1000s of km of Mediterranean coastline. 7/

Tweet media one

7

167

3K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

The Phoenician civilization extended over these vast coastal distances at least partly because of the economic importance of their dye-extraction industry. A sea snail - Bolinus Brandaris, the dye-murex - provided the sought after purple dye for which they were famous. 8/

Tweet media one

8

147

3K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

This original set of woodblocks was destroyed by fire during the Mongol invasions of Korea in 1232, although scattered volumes printed from these blocks still remain - an example printed in the 11th century is shown here. 11/

Tweet media one

4

149

3K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

This second version is usually what is meant by the Tripiṭaka Koreana today. In 1398, it was moved to the Buddhist temple at Haeinsa on Mount Gaya, South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea, where it has remained housed to the present day in four purpose built buildings. 12/

Tweet media one

2

139

3K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

The word for 'mother' in Indo-European languages.

Tweet media one

66

625

3K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

Because of the supreme accuracy of the Tripiṭaka Koreana, the Japanese, Chinese, and Taiwanese versions of the Tripiṭaka are ALL based on this Korean version. 16/

3

150

3K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

To once again implore divine assistance with combating the Mongol threat, King Gojong ordered the revision and re-creation of the Tripiṭaka. The carving began in 1237 and was completed in 12 years, involving monks from both the Seon and Gyo schools. 11/

3

126

3K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

This is an untouched box of the legendary Hagoromo Fulltouch chalk, made in Japan circa 2014. The company closed down in 2015, and while a version of the chalk is now made in Korea, purists mourn the loss of the unsurpassable original - the finest blackboard chalk ever made. 1/

Tweet media one

27

496

3K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

In short: the letters in the book you are reading today, and the near universal adoption of movable type printing in the West, both depend on these sea-snails. 10/

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

4

136

3K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

The historical value of the Tripiṭaka Koreana comes from the fact that it is the most complete and accurate extant collection of Buddhist treatises, laws, and scriptures. The compilers of the Korean version incorporated older Northern Song Chinese and Khitan versions. 14/

1

132

3K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

So no sea snails, no widespread Phoenician civilization, and no widespread use of the Phoenician alphabet, from which our ABC today derives. No alphabet would mean no widespread use of movable type (as in Asia, where it was tried, but proved inferior to woodblock printing). 9/

8

133

3K

@incunabula

Incunabula

4 years

Owen Simmons' 1903 'The Book of Bread', is famous in the book world as, arguably, the first photobook. But the usual green cloth trade edition doesn't fully convey how remarkable the photos really are. Almost never seen is the 1902 deluxe edition that preceded it, shown here. 1/6

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

42

965

3K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

The quality of the wood blocks is attributed to Sugi, the Buddhist monk in charge of the project, who carefully checked the Korean version for errors. Upon completing the Tripiṭaka Koreana, Sugi published 30 volumes of Additional Records which recorded errors, and omissions. 15/

Tweet media one

2

131

3K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

Henrique Alvim-Corrêa (1876-1910), a Brazilian artist living in Belgium, read HG Wells' The War of the Worlds in 1903 and was so moved by the novel that he began to illustrate the work uncommissioned. In 1905 he travelled to London in order to present his work to Wells. 1/

Tweet media one

43

660

3K

@incunabula

Incunabula

5 years

Printed in Korea in 1377, 78 years before Gutenberg, this is the world's oldest extant book printed with movable metal type. Known by its abbreviated name of "Jikji", only a single copy of one volume of the original 2 volume edition survives, and is held today by @laBnF in Paris.

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

Tweet media three

Tweet media four

28

2K

3K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

The Tripiṭaka Koreana was one of the most coveted items among Japanese Buddhists in the Edo period. Japan never managed to create a woodblock Tripiṭaka, and made constant requests and attempts to acquire the Tripiṭaka Koreana from Korea since 1388. 17/

Tweet media one

3

135

3K

@incunabula

Incunabula

1 year

Roald Dahl, 2001 vs 2022 editions: In James and the Giant Peach, the Cloud-Men have become Cloud-People, Miss Sponge is no longer “the fat one”, Miss Spider’s head is no longer “black” and the Earthworm no longer has “lovely pink” skin but “lovely smooth skin”.

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

65

480

3K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

45 complete printings of the Tripiṭaka Koreana were given to Japan since the Muromachi period, mostly as diplomatic gifts, and sometimes under duress. The Tripiṭaka Koreana was used as the basis for the modern Japanese Taishō Tripiṭaka. 18/

Tweet media one

2

120

3K

@incunabula

Incunabula

4 years

This is the oldest surviving book printed with movable type. Printed in Tangut script with movable wooden type during the reign of Emperor Renzong of the Western Xia, it dates to c. 1150 - 3 centuries before Gutenberg and 2 centuries before the famous Korean Jikji printing. 1/7

Tweet media one

14

978

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

5 years

A Sino-Tibetan folded book printed in Beijing in 1410, with dhāranīs in Sanskrit written in Tibeto-Nepali characters and woodcuts of protective mantra-diagrams and deities, block printed on heavy white paper. Breathtakingly detailed printing in red ink, 40 years before Gutenberg.

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

Tweet media three

Tweet media four

17

987

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

5 years

This apparently well sourced French news report in the last hour confirms: ALL THREE OF THE ROSACE WINDOWS SURVIVED. The organ suffered severe damage, but contrary to what the church said last night, was not destroyed.

Tweet card media

Notre-Dame de Paris: les vitraux des rosaces intacts, l'orgue épargné par les flammes

Les vitraux des 12e et 13e siècles des rosaces de Notre-Dame ont été épargnés par les flammes. L'orgue pourrait avoir subi des dégâts à cause de l'eau mais n'a pas été brûlé.

16

1K

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

1 year

The Icelandic word for a military tank is skriðdreki - literally "crawling dragon". The Icelandic for computer is tölva, literally "number priestess".

21

347

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

5 years

Heartening photograph taken in the last hour this morning showing at least once of the Rosaces intact (although likely damaged).

Tweet media one

24

976

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

Linen underwear - uncolored and washed often (and thus prone to wearing out) - was an ideal source for rags for papermaking. And the new availability of low-cost linen due to the spinning wheel coincided exactly with the hugely increased demand for paper in the 15th century. 22/

Tweet media one

6

121

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

Whatever the reason though, there’s no disputing that the adoption of the codex form and its near total replacement of the scroll format in Europe and the Near East, coincided with and was intimately tied up with the early spread of Christianity. 14/

Tweet media one

7

105

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

Which European language am I reading?

Tweet media one

33

660

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

The arrow of time.

Tweet media one

9

383

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

So that's why our books depend on cheese and snails. What about Jesus, underwear and spectacles? 11/

4

101

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

In antiquity, the book in Europe and the Near East was written on tablets or on scrolls. The adoption of the codex form in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD coincided with the early spread of Christianity, and is vastly more prevalent in early Christian texts than in secular ones. 12/

Tweet media one

5

111

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

The reasons for this are not clear & all the hypotheses are disputed to some degree. One idea is that Christianity was spread by proselytising preachers who were able to hold their codex gospels in one hand (a scroll would require two), leaving the other hand free to gesture. 13/

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

23

98

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

Key to this was the availability of affordable linen, which, unlike wool, was cool & comfortable on the skin. The breakthrough was the invention in the 14th cent. of the spinning wheel for flax, which made manual spinning obsolete, and resulted in drastically cheaper linen. 21/

Tweet media one

10

103

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

The problem though - then and now - was that most people over 40 can no longer read comfortably or even at all, due to the naturally occurring presbyopia - age-related long-sightedness - that inevitably comes with the onset of middle-age.... 31/

16

95

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

Paper production was viable because of the availability of linen rags. And linen rags existed - not exclusively, but certainly above all - because people wore linen underwear. No underwear - no rags, no paper, no printing, and perhaps no book as we know it today. 24/

6

111

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

At first glance, a Chinese instruction manual of some kind. But look closely: everything here - every single word without exception - is in English. This is An Introduction to Square Word Calligraphy, a livre d'artiste by the acclaimed Chinese contemporary artist Xu Bing. 1/7

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

20

884

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

Without the availability of paper, there would have been no printing revolution in the 15th century. Without underwear, there would have been no widespread availability of paper. The book in Europe developed as it did, because of underwear. Here’s why. 16/

Tweet media one

6

147

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

It's worth reading Vincent Ilardi's excellent "Renaissance Vision from Spectacles to Telescopes" on the early history of reading glasses - it's an interesting subject with all sorts of ramifications in other spheres, quite apart from book production. 36/

Tweet media one

6

117

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

Printing was only economically viable because of the availability of paper. It would never have developed in the 15th and 16th centuries into the vast Europe-wide industry it did if vellum - hugely expensive and difficult to work with - had been the only available option. 23/

3

85

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

Traditional papermaking in Asia uses the inner bark fibers of plants. Papermaking in Europe developed on fundamentally different lines because of the absence in Europe of an indigenous pulp source such as the paper mullberry [Broussonetia papyrifera] widespread in Asia. 17/

Tweet media one

4

107

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

ARSENIC BINDINGS At first sight a charmingly decorative mid-Victorian binding - but this book conceals a deadly secret: the distinctive vivid emerald green color of the book cloth here is derived from copper acetoarsenite, and contains dangerously toxic levels of arsenic. 1/

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

Tweet media three

46

648

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

Rags for papermaking needed to be generally uncolored, and made from linen, hemp or cotton. Most clothing was made from wool, and wool fabrics were not usable at all for rag paper production. So what was the source of uncolored linen or cotton rags? Primarily underwear. 19/

7

112

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

4 years

Am I the only one here who has very sensibly used this two months of quarantine to fulfill a boyhood ambition 40 years later and finally buy a chunk of Roman Imperial Porphyry, the coolest of all the stones? No? No-one? Just me then?

Tweet media one

110

262

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

While loincloths were worn, by slaves particularly, in Roman antiquity, it was only from the Middle Ages onwards that the wearing of underwear became widespread in all classes - specifically linen braies or drawers for men, and linen shifts or chemises for women. 20/

Tweet media one

3

102

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

The Olive Tree of Vouves. This ancient olive on the island of Crete is one of 7 olive trees in the Mediterranean thought to be at least 2000 to 3000 years old. Although its exact age can't be verified, it may be the oldest of all, over 3000 years old. It still produces olives.

Tweet media one

13

302

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

Then and now, a key book-buying demographic was men - and women - in their 40s and upwards. These people were disproportionately likely to have the leisure time to read and the all-important wealth or disposable income needed to actually buy books. 30/

4

93

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

4 years

This, with over 3k likes so far, is part of a peculiar Twitter genre: fake library photos. This is not Umberto Eco's library, just as the other equally widely distributed similar photo is not Bill Gates's library. Great libraries don't necessarily look visually impressive.

32

622

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

We've now covered cheese, snails, Jesus and underwear. Spectacles next! 25/ 🧀 + 🐌 + ✝️ + 🩲 + 👓 = 📖

1

82

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

It was not until the early 19th century that paper production from wood pulp became technically and commercially viable in Europe. Until then paper in Europe was made from rags. But what rags? 18/

4

101

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

4 years

The Olive Tree of Vouves: This ancient olive on the island of Crete is one of 7 olive trees in the Mediterranean thought to be at least 2000 to 3000 years old. Although its exact age can't be verified, it may be the oldest of all, at over 3000 years old. It still produces olives.

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

24

515

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

At the Hieroglyphs exhibition at the British Museum - this is just mental.

Tweet media one

35

215

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

The invention of spectacles made Gutenberg possible. Gutenberg’s invention - and the spread of European printing that followed it - was not just a technological revolution, but a commercial one as well. Spectacles enabled it. Here's why. 26/

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

4

113

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

Most historians believe that the first form of eyeglasses was produced in Italy by craftsmen in Pisa (or Venice) around 1285-1289. These lenses for reading were shaped like two small magnifying glasses and set into metal or leather mountings, balanced on the bridge of nose. 32/

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

4

113

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

20 days

Yesterday: A white horse covered in blood gallops through the streets of London. The clock of Big Ben freezes at 9am. This morning: The sails of the Moulin Rouge windmill inexplicably collapse for the first time in 135 years. Tomorrow: Look out for the Star called Wormwood,…

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

62

347

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

So that's cheese, snails and Jesus explained. Why underwear and spectacles? 15/

1

79

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

2 years

Printed in Korea in 1377, 78 years before Gutenberg, this is the world's oldest known book printed with movable metal type. Known by its abbreviated name of "Jikji", only a single copy of one volume of the original 2 vol edition survives, and is held today by @laBnF in Paris. 1/

Tweet media one

18

578

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

Manuscripts were - primarily - produced on a one-off basis as needed. But printing involved producing and financing an entire edition - 100's or 1000's of copies - upfront. This necessitated finding many buyers rapidly, so that the printer could recover his capital outlay. 27/

4

81

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

1 year

How to pronounce the primary click sounds of the 4 main Nguni languages of Southern Africa: Xhosa, Zulu, Swazi and Ndebele.

37

454

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

The manufacture & use of eyeglasses spread rapidly across Europe from the end of the 13th century onwards. By 1301, there were guild regulations in Venice governing the sale of eyeglasses. By the late fourteenth century they were common objects, widely available everywhere. 33/

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

2

103

2K

@incunabula

Incunabula

3 years

So when Gutenberg set up his press in the 1450s, his customer base - and that of the printers who followed him in subsequent decades - included the all important 40+ demographic, who were, thanks to eyeglasses, able to comfortably read his books. 34/

Tweet media one

4

89

2K